I had a six hour car ride yesterday from the Eastern Shore to my folks' place in Central North Carolina. Along the way, I saw a good many Obama bumper stickers, and as I drove (and saw more and more), I began to put together a theory; well, more of an observation than a theory.
The Obama victory was a HUGE victory. It was a washout in the Electoral College and a trouncing in the popular vote. But even more impressive is the scope/breadth of the victory as measured by the correlation (or lack thereof) of driver to bumper sticker. Here's what I mean.
For the past eight years, as I've come up upon a car besmirched by a Gore/Lieberman or a Kerry/Edwards sticker, I'd chuckle to myself as I drove by at the predictability of the person driving; young women, men with facial hair and or long hair, marmy looking women of dubious sexuality, and non-white folks.
During this drive, there were plenty of easily correlated pairings--but more interesting were the complete surprises. White men in their thirties driving SUV's and sports cars. Lots and lots of high end cars with well-tended folks in them. Rednecks in pick-em-up trucks. By this unscientific measure, Obama's victory was pretty impressive, and it represents a serious challenge to be overcome by hopeful Republican politicians.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
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11 comments:
I play that 'predict who's sporting the bumper sticker' game too. Don't think I've ever seen an Obama sticker on a redneck's truck, but I'm usually surprised by the old white people who have them.
But I wouldn't read too much into it. I see your point about his attracting other audiences but supporting Obama has become a movement this year; hopefully it is merely a fad that will run its course and go the way of mood rings, pet rocks and Wham.
Sorry Sally, Wham was the real deal. Frankie goes to Hollywood was the fad.
It may also be that a lot of republicans just don't like junking up their vehicles with sticky plastic and paper. Plus, we lost. Unlike the Kerry and even Gore supporters who left their losing candidates' stickers on their vehicles for 4/8 years respectively, I don't think most republicans care to emblazon their transportation with the name of a guy who lost. Certainly exceptions to this Mudge Rule, but in comparison to Dems, I think GoP who afix and keep loser names is dramatically lower.
Mudge--agree Repubs don't do bumper stickers as much...what I find interesting is how a much broader group of people ARE choosing to advertise their political leanings.
Yeah, concur. I've been proven wrong in my guessing about who is in the car too. The stickers that rarely fail me are anything with rainbows, COEXIST, =, Kerry, Gore, 1.20.09 End of an Error, PeTA, Meat is Murder, and Free Tibet. Oh yeah, and just about anything with a Maryland license plate. :-)
Many years ago, I saw a bumper sticker while visiting the outskirts of Atlanta (at that time I-285 was the outskirts!).
It said, "Nuke the unborn gay whales." Oh, and this one shared space with, "This truck insured by Smith & Wesson" and "Frankly I'd rather be killing commies."
Back to the unborn gay thing. I've often thought a pictogram for this would be nice. Picture this on a bumper sticker, from left to right - Mushroom Cloud, Fetus in utero, Lavender Triangle, Fudgie the Whale.
Oh, and all those number stickers were on a Dodge RamCharger pickup..jacked-up higher than high, huge mudder tires and a camo paint scheme. Taken as a package, it was great!
It's not scientific, but it is interesting. One curveball to consider in your observation is that there was an actual active campaign in Virginia this go around, which didn't happen to nearly the same extent in 2000 or 2004. So it's easier for interested parties (whatever their demographic backgrounds) to wander into a field office or go to a rally and collect their chum than it would have been during previous elections.
I don't know. I still see plenty of McCain/Palin bumper stickers, and quite a few pink Palin decals in Loudoun County, VA, which overall went for Obama but had plenty of McCain supporters.
I have not seen a single Obama bumper sticker here in Southwest Oklahoma.
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